I Guess This Is Home
by DucksFan1510
Summary: Non-Magic AU. Emma is moved to a nice town for the end of sixth grade. While living in the orphanage there, she ends up meeting plenty of great people who end up being the best things that have ever happened to her. And maybe meeting her was the best thing that ever happened to them.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright so I'm a huge Once fan and I decided to try my hand at writing a story for it. It's an non-magic AU where all our friends start out at the end of sixth grade. So they're like twelve. I started out with characters from the beginning of the series and then advanced to characters who appear later on. So I will try to fit in everyone at times. There are no specific pairings in this story but there are lots of chances for some to happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoy?**

 **Chapter 1**

Being in an orphanage was not great. It wasn't fun. It just sucked. That's what Emma thought anyway. Some people liked it there but most wanted out. She knew that not many foster families would take in older kids. She just couldn't wait to be out of school. But she was only eleven, heading into sixth grade in a completely new school. She sighed as she lifted her backpack over her shoulder and headed towards the bus stop with a few other girls and boys from the orphanage. When the bus came to pick them up, she saw it was already full. She climbed on and looked around for a seat. There weren't many open seats and she ended up sitting next to a boy with chestnut hair that hung down in his eyes messily. He didn't talk or even look up at her. He sat there quietly, reading some kind of book. Someone tapped on her shoulder and she turned around to see a slightly nerdy looking boy smiling.

"Hey there! Name's Jiminy," the boy said with a grin, "And I wouldn't sit there with him. That seat is reserved for someone else."

"It's a bus," Emma said, "The seats aren't reserved for anyone. And he didn't say I couldn't sit here."

"Just trust me. You don't want to sit there," Jiminy said sadly, "You can sit with me. Or November."

"It's August!" a boy protested from behind him. Emma watched as the boy climbed up on his seat. He had dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes. Jiminy smiled and then motioned for her to get out her seat.

"Hurry! Before she gets on!"

Emma decided that it was probably best to do what the boy said so she moved over and sat down next to Jiminy who smiled and then nodded towards the front.

"See, that's her," a voice whispered in her ear and she turned to see the other boy who had said his name was August, leaning over, "That's whose seat you sat in."

Emma watched as a girl got on with dark black hair and walked quickly to the seat in front of them. She sat down in the seat that Emma had most recently vacated. She put her hand on the boy's shoulder and the boy glanced up in surprise. He must have been really absorbed in the book.

"That's Regina," Jiminy said softly, "And that's her…adopted brother who lives with her dad on the other side of town. They don't see each other much except for at school where he doesn't ever talk and she takes charge of the whole place."

"Yea she's a b-word," August said happily to her. Emma kind of liked these two boys. They were actually nice. They'd accepted her easily.

"Who is this?"

They looked up to see Regina looking over the back of her seat with the boy at her side with the same scowl on his face.

"This is…"

"Emma. I'm new," Emma said quickly and Jiminy nodded.

"Oh….well then…..welcome. I'm Regina."

"Hi," Emma said and then the girl turned around. But the boy continued to stare at her and his gaze was filled with such intensity that it was slightly scary. Before she could say anything, the boy turned around and sat back down. He was alarming in her opinion. Was he really incapable of talking?

"So who is your teacher?" August asked, leaning over the back of the seat again.

"Umm….I have Mrs. Nolan."

"Awesome! Me too! And Jiminy! And David and Snow. And Ruby. And Regina. And her brother."

"Does he get excited about a lot of things?" Emma asked Jiminy who smiled slightly and nodded.

"It's odd that he enjoys hanging out with me. I'm not anything like him."

The bus pulled up to the school and they all filed out of the bus. She watched Regina walk with her brother towards the school. For some reason, it didn't seem like they got along very well. They walked into the school and another boy ran up to her. He had sparkling blue eyes and short dirty blonde hair.

"Wow! Hi, I'm David," the boy smiled, "And this is Snow."

Emma smiled at them both. The girl had black hair and brown eyes. She smiled back at her. They all seemed so excited to be friends with her. She saw August walking up and noticed that he limped quite obviously.

"Come on. We need to get into our classroom. You know Mrs. Nolan doesn't like when we're late."

"That's right!" David smiled as they walked into the classroom. It was a comfortable room. There were desks everywhere with nametags. She smiled as she read each of them. David's had knights and swords all over it. Snow's had flowers and apples. August had drawings of what looked suspiciously like puppets. Jiminy had drawn bugs on his. Regina had spiders and a lot of black. She looked for the boy that she still didn't know his name.

"You must be Emma! Welcome to our sixth grade class. I am Mrs. Nolan," the teacher said with a smile. Emma smiled back.

"Thanks. Um…Where do you want me to sit?"

"Well, we have an empty desk right for you next to….Graham. Graham, where are you?"

A boy raised his hand hesitantly off the desk. He sat alone with no one next to him. It was the same boy from the bus. His nametag had a drawing of a bow and arrow on it. Emma walked over and sat down at the desk next to him. The boy still wouldn't talk to her.

"I'm Emma, it's nice to meet you," she said holding out her hand, hoping the boy would take it.

He glanced at her and just nodded before going back to reading his book. She felt a tap on her shoulder and sighed when she saw who was sitting behind her.

"What do you want July?"

"August!" the boy complained, "And, he's not going to talk to you. Mrs. Nolan has even given up trying to make him talk."

"Ok, I get it," Emma said nodding. August gave her a smile and then leaned back in his chair. Mrs. Nolan started teaching them all about history but Graham didn't seem to care less. He was still absorbed in whatever book he was reading. Emma glanced at it and tried to see what it said. She couldn't really tell.

"So today, we're going to get into groups of four or five and I will give you a fairy tale to read. You will then have work together to reenact the story by Friday," Mrs. Nolan smiled, "And I will divide the groups."

"Awesome!" August hissed from behind her, "Please let me get in a good group."

"For Group 1. Regina, Ruby, Sidney, Jiminy and Phillip."

The students started to move around a little bit to get into the groups.

"Group 2: David, Snow, August, Emma, and let's have Graham join you guys."

August rolled his eyes but smiled at Emma. They all got into their group and started talking about what fairy tale they should do.

"Pinocchio," August said immediately with a grin on his face.

"No man that's stupid," David said rolling his eyes, "We should do Snow White. Since Snow is already named Snow."

"I love Snow White!" Snow said excitedly, "It's like my favorite story ever."

"Aw come on!" August complained, "We obviously know that you two will want to be the main characters! Who are Emma and I going to be?"

"And Graham," Emma put in and August rolled his eyes.

"Yea him too."

"Well, there's the evil queen! The seven dwarves! You could be all of them August!"

"I don't want to be any darn dwarves!"

A paper slid over in front of Emma and she glanced down. She frowned but picked it up and read the five words printed on the note. She glanced over at Graham who was looking up at her again.

 _'_ _Can I be The Huntsman?'_

Maybe he really couldn't talk. Emma smiled slightly and then nodded her head at him. He smiled slightly and went back to reading his book.

"I got it!" August said with a triumphant grin, "I'll be the Huntsman."

"Sorry August," Emma said, "Someone already took that spot."

"What?!"

"Graham said he wanted to be him."

"But…..fine. Whatever. I'll be the darn dwarves," August grumbled but sat down on the desk. Snow laughed.

"It's fine August. You'll be my best friends."

"This will be so much fun," David said excitedly as he pretended to wave a sword, "Snow! I shall find you! I will always find you!"

"Kids, go out for recess! I'll call you back in a little while."

Everyone ran outside and Emma smiled slightly. She liked this school for once. Her old school hadn't been nearly as inviting as this one. All the kids here were so friendly apart from Regina.

"Let's play Snow White and practice!" August said as Jiminy joined them.

"You guys are doing Snow White? That's so cool!"

"Yea it will be great," David said, "Now come on let's play."

Emma laughed and then frowned. She saw Graham playing alone but he seemed to be enjoying himself. He had a stick that had been sharpened to a point and taped at the bottom to look like a sword. He was swiping at the air and throwing it from one side of the playground to the other. While David, August, and Snow were planning on how they would play Snow White, she walked slowly over towards Graham.

"Ha! Hwa!"

Emma watched him again as he swung the stick around and then froze when their eyes met. He smiled at her for once and then tossed the stick aside. He cocked his head slightly before taking off and running off towards the playground. All Emma could do was follow him. She found him sitting at the top waiting expectantly for her.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly, "Why don't you talk."

"Because whenever I talk, no one believes what I say," Graham said quietly. His voice was soft and gentle. Nothing like Regina.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever read Snow White?"

"No."

"Here," Graham gave her his book, "Read it. It's a great story. I'm in it."

"What?"

"The Huntsman. He's in that story."

"Oh. Do you want this back?"

"Yes eventually. But you read it first."

Emma stared at Graham as he smiled again before jumping and taking off down the slide. He gave her a shy wave before hurrying off back towards the field to play with his sharpened stick. She watched him and realized he must have an amazing imagination to still be able to play like that. Nowadays, it was all technology.

"Emma!"

She turned to see her group of friends waiting for her. They waved her over and she walked over to them. They all looked shocked.

"What is it?"

"You got Graham to talk," David said with his mouth hanging open, "How did you do that?"

"I…..I don't know," Emma said truthfully. Why had Graham chosen to talk to her of all people? She had only been here for a day. She glanced down at the book in her hands and wondered why he'd given it to her.

"Let's read it!" David said with an excited smile.

"Yes Emma! We must!" Snow agreed. Even August seemed slightly excited by the book. They sat on the playground and read the story and it was a really great story. It was full of information on the characters as well as the plotline. And then she got to the part that Graham was so excited about. The Huntsman. It was awful what the guy had gone through. His heart had been ripped from him by the evil queen and he was forced to do her bidding for the rest of his life. If he didn't, she'd cause him pain.

"Can we do this in the play?" August asked with a smile, "That would be so cool."

"No, it's too gruesome. And how would we even pull it off?"

"I think it's a good idea."

They all turned and Emma was surprised to see the fifth member of their group standing there, hands clenched together. He was extremely nervous. Graham looked away and then glanced back at them with a timid smile.

"That's why I gave you the book. So you could read about me."

"See? Graham-Cracker wants it so let's do it," August said putting his arm around the other boy, "Glad you're not mute buddy."

Graham smiled again and Emma noticed that he didn't seem as nervous. It seemed as if this was the first time anything like this was ever happening to him. The kid must have never had any friends because his sister was so scary.

"So…..we're friends right?" Graham asked and August grinned.

"Sure. The more the merrier."

"Of course we're friends Graham," Snow said with a smile and David nodded his approval. It was time to go in and they didn't stop talking the whole way there. Emma realized how much of a personality Graham actually had. He was a bit like August only less sarcastic and more afraid of what people would say about him.

On the bus ride home, it was sort of quiet between the group. Jiminy was talking quietly with August. Snow and David were sitting up front and Graham was back in the clutches of his sister. Emma glanced over the seat to see Regina with her hand held tightly on Graham's back. When the bus got to the first stop, Regina almost pushed the boy out of his seat and into the aisle. Graham turned back and Emma gave him a little wave before he left. At her stop, she got off and headed into the home. She wandered into her room and shut the door. It had been a tiring day but now at least she had some nice friends. She wasn't there for long by herself because the door opened soon after. The owner of the place, Mr. Gold walked in, followed by a very familiar face.

"I believe you know this boy?"

"I do…."

"He'll be staying here then."

"August? What happened?" she asked as soon as Mr. Gold left the room.

"I don't know. I got home and there was no one there and a note that said I was to come here. I….I think my parents left."

"I'm so sorry August."

"It's alright. I guess. I get to spend time with you all the time now right?"

"Great. I can hardly wait."

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed and I'd love some reviews! So if you liked, review, favorite, and follow! And I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright! Here's Chapter 2! There may be romance later on though, I'm still thinking about 're a little young to be in full out relationships. Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2**

It was slightly shocking to wake up the next morning and see August hanging over her with a grin on his face.

"You sleep for a long time," he said, "We have to be ready to go in like twenty minutes."

"Then why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" Emma asked angrily as she pushed the boy out of the way. August smiled and shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Jerk," she muttered. August grinned again.

"Well come on then! We have to be on time or we'll miss seeing your boyfriend!"

"What?"

"Graham-Cracker. It's obvious that you like him," he said smugly as he pulled a jacket on. Emma rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom to change before hurrying out after August to get to the bus. The boy handed her something to eat as they walked down to the bus stop.

"I don't like Graham," she said, "He's just a nice guy."

"You've said like four full sentences to him."

"He's nice," Emma said, trying to end the conversation. August laughed softly and then the bus pulled up. They climbed on and then walked back towards their seats. She was surprised when she sat down to see Graham pop up from the seat in front of her.

"So did you read it?"

"What?"

"The book? Did you read it?"

"Yes of course. It was really good."

"I know it was," Graham said with a grin and then held his hand out, "I want it back though."

"Of course," Emma said as she handed him the book. Graham nodded and then rested his head on the back of the seat.

"So how are you?"

"I'm alright. What about you?" Emma asked. She still wasn't sure why Graham talked to her. Why had she made him talk? The bus stopped at the next stop but they didn't notice. Graham was explaining why the Huntsman was the best fairy tale character ever.

"So you see, he goes after Snow White but he never kills her because of what a good person she was. And then…..then he gets punished for it, but he continues to defy the queen because he knows it's not right. He helps the prince escape from the castle and then pays for it. And eventually he defies the queen to an extent that she has to kill him by crushing his heart."

"I know. I did read the whole story," Emma said with a small smile.

"Wow. I want to be just like him," Graham said with a dreamy grin on his face. And then a hand grabbed his collar and tugged him backwards into the seat in front of Emma. Regina was here.

"Shut up Graham. Don't bother them."

It was quiet and then August came forward, "Hey don't talk to him like that. He was just talking with us."

"You can leave my brother alone. It's bad enough he's in your group for that project, but you can leave him alone when you're not working on it."

"Why should we?" August countered. The whole bus was quiet. No one had ever stood up to Regina like this before. And then again, Graham had never talked before.

"Because I can make you stay away from him by reporting you to the principal. And if that doesn't work….," she leaned in to talk to August but Emma heard what she said softly, "You wouldn't want your little friend to get hurt in some way would you?"

Emma was shocked to hear that. Regina would hurt her own brother to get what she wanted? That was awful. Slowly, conversation returned.

"This isn't good," Jiminy said softly, "She's never gotten that angry before….well ok maybe she has."

"Why would she threaten Graham like that?" Emma breathed back.

"Graham's adopted. They're not close at all, they live on separate sides of town and Graham lives with her father. Regina likes her father much more than her mother. She controls Graham because he's too afraid of her to try and stand up to anything she says. Until….Until you came along."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"I don't know Emma. But Graham has never talked before and now he's talking to you without being forced to and he's actually smiled. He must trust you a lot," Jiminy said. They arrived at the school and then hurried off the bus. She saw Regina drag Graham away from their group and start yelling at him. Emma felt so bad for that boy. Why couldn't he have friends?

"I smell a rescue coming on!"

Emma turned around to see David and Snow standing there with August who was obviously leaning on one leg. They were all grinning.

"What?"

"Let's go rescue our Huntsman. And your boyfriend," August snickered. Emma rolled her eyes at him again and then started towards the brother and sister.

"Regina! Leave him alone!"

Both siblings looked up in surprise. Regina pushed Graham back into the wall of the school and took a step forward. Emma knew she just had to distract her until David could pull Graham away.

"Who do you think you are?" she hissed.

"Someone who is concerned for Graham's life unlike yourself," she said and there were a bunch of whispers from the kids around them. David was next to Graham, helping up from where he'd fallen.

"You need to stay out of business that is not yours," Regina said scowling, "Come on Graham, we're going."

But there wasn't an answer and Emma smiled. Regina turned around and Emma got to see that David had his arm around Graham and they were talking quietly with one another. The boy was completely ignoring his sister.

"Yes! And that is why I want to be him. I'm an unknown hero!" Graham said excitedly.

"It's going to be fun," David said with a smile, "Come on, let's walk to our class together yea?"

"Cool!"

Regina turned back to her and glared at her, "You will not be able to steal my brother away from me. He always comes crawling back."

"We'll see," Emma said, "I don't want to steal anyone from you. I just want him to be able to do what he wants."

She hurried off after her group of friends. They were sitting outside waiting for the door to be opened to their classroom. David was sitting next to Graham who was talking still. August sat next to him on the other side and Snow sat next to David. Another girl sat next to August. Emma recognized her as Ruby.

"I love animals," Graham said with another smile, "I've always wanted a dog but my father won't let me get one."

"I have a dog," Jiminy chirped with a smile, "You could come visit him if you want after school."

"Really? That'd be so cool!" Graham said with a smile, "Thanks Jiminy. Hi Emma!"

"Hey Graham."

August looked over at her, "How did Regina go?"

"Alright. Nothing to be worried about."

"Ok. Graham, how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," Graham said quietly, "I'm sorry for making you guys get on my sister's bad side. You should really stay away from….us."

"You're our friend though," Snow said quietly, "And we're not going to leave friends behind."

Graham smiled slightly and David ruffled his hair. Emma saw that David and Snow seemed to act a lot older than they were during serious times. They seemed very protective of their friends. This little group of kids that they had together was just something that they wanted to protect.

"We should go in," August said as he yawned and then stretched. They walked inside and Emma noticed that a book was laying on each of their desks. It looked like they would be reading something new today. Graham smiled at her as he sat down next to her and leaned back in his chair slightly.

"Don't stare Emma, that's not nice," August's taunting voice appeared behind her. She didn't know how many times she would roll her eyes about something that boy said.

"So today, we're going to read the first chapter of our new book. Would anyone like to read first?"

No one did. And everyone was surprised when Graham raised his hand tentatively.

"I can start…..if no one else wants to."

"Ok then….Graham. Go ahead. Whenever you're ready."

Graham smiled and began to read out loud. He read very well. He could put emotion into every word and it actually felt like the story was being laid out in front of them. And soon his turn was up and other people were starting to read.

"Stop staring Emma," August snickered, "Don't be so obvious. We only have a month and a half left of school before it's summer and we'll all be in seventh grade. Then it will be legal to date him."

"Will you shut up!?" she asked quietly. Graham turned to her and frowned.

"Me?"

"You're not the one bothering me," she said glaring at August.

"Whatever."

The time passed slowly. The group of them worked on designing their costumes for their play and the lines of each of them. The day came to a close with David standing on top of a desk shouting the same words over and over again.

"I will find you Snow! I will always find you!"

"And I shall help you, my good prince. Snow is a fair princess, she does not deserve to die," Graham added as he walked forward.

"But you are not coming with me? Why is this!?" David asked as he pretended to sheath his sword.

"I cannot leave here without the queen's permission. I am trapped here. I cannot escape. But you can and you need to get to Snow. I will take the blame for your escape."

"You will not suffer here long," David said moving forward slightly, "As soon as I find Snow, we will end the queen and free you from this prison!"

"Nice work you two!" August said with a grin from his seat on the floor, "That was perfect!"

"It was pretty great," Snow said with a smile, "Next scene will be Emma and Graham and then it will change to David looking for me. Then the battle for the castle with all of us."

"Yes!" August said, "Finally action."

They'd been practicing for at least a half hour and now it was time to end with a little recess before getting ready to go home. They hurried outside and Emma watched as they parted ways. David and Snow headed off to play on the playground and Graham went towards the swings. August limped up to her.

"So how are you? You ok with being the evil witch who stole Graham's heart?"

"Yes," Emma rolled her eyes, "I really wish you would stop making jokes about me and him. He's just a friend."

"You just keep telling yourself that. Say, what's with that creepy guy who runs the orphanage?"

"Mr. Gold?"

"Yea."

"Oh….well….he's actually not too creepy. He lost his son a while ago."

"Lost him?"

"He vanished. Ran away from home. It really hurt him."

"Oh," August said quietly, "I guess I kind of know how that feels."

Emma glanced over at the boy who sighed and then hurried off to the playground to join David and Snow. She wondered why he limped so badly. What had happened to his leg? She walked over to where Graham was sitting on the swings and sat next to him. He was staring off at the picnic table next to the playground. A girl was sitting there with a book in her hands.

"That's Belle," Graham said quietly, "She loves to read."

"I can see that."

"Yea."

Emma glanced at Graham who was still staring at the girl. She smiled slightly and put her hand on Graham's shoulder.

"You like her don't you?"

"No…I just want to be her friend but I don't know how."

"Ask her about what she's reading," Emma said, "You book people always want to talk about books."

Graham laughed quietly, "Yea I guess we do. You really think it will work?"

"I bet you it will."

Graham grinned and then jumped off the swing to run towards the table. Emma watched as he sat down shyly and leaned over. He asked the girl something that made her look up. She smiled slightly and said something and Graham grinned before saying something else. Soon they were talking enthusiastically about something. Emma smiled. She was glad that Graham was able to make friends. He needed that.

The bus ride home was loud and noisy. Jiminy was talking about how great their play sounded and how he was excited to see it. Graham wasn't sitting by Regina and instead sat next to August. He would be getting off at the same stop as her and August would be so he could run across the street to Jiminy's house and play with his dog. Surprisingly, Regina hadn't made any comment about this.

"Let's go," Jiminy said with a smile at Graham who grinned back. The four of them got off the bus and then started to walk down the sidewalk. They glanced up and down the street and waited as a few cars passed.

"My dog's name is Pongo. He's a Dalmatian. You'll like him," Jiminy said and Graham nodded. Jiminy headed across the street and then Graham grinned at her.

"Alright. I'll see you around," he said. He took three steps off the curb.

"Oh my god!" Emma yelled as a car came speeding out of nowhere. Graham was going to get hit head on. There was shouting and all of a sudden, Graham was leaning on her, sobbing in fear. He was alright. But there was a loud bang and they watched in horror as the body of another was hit by the car and landed hard on the pavement.

"911? Please help, someone's been hit by a car on Main Street," Jiminy was already on the phone. She hugged Graham tightly. The boy had almost been hit by a car. Whoever had been hit by the car, had saved his life.

"You're ok," she said quietly, "You're safe. You aren't hurt."

"Who got hit?" Graham asked softly, "Who got hit instead of me?"

"I…..I don't know."

 **Who is it? Guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Thanks for reading everyone, if you liked, leave a review!**


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